Media that Corrupts - Self Deception Series 11 – Purity 1100

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of sunset at Rhino Rock Cape Northumberland in Port Macdonald, South Australia comes to us from Dave Bond Photography, as Dave shared this scene on social media back on May 15th, commenting that it could be time for another trek down south. Well, it's Friday, thank God, and it is my prayer that all who see or hear this message are able to take some time this weekend to enjoy themselves and find peace, and perhaps to take Dave's suggestion to return to a familiar place where you have found joy in the past. While there is some truth to Thomas Wolfe's adage that you can't go home again, meaning you can't return to a place at another time and find everything the same,. It doesn't mean that we will never be happy again like we were in the past, or that we can't find joy in revisiting haunts from the past. The trap we run into that can cause us to lament over the loss of things that have passed, or, or the way that they have changed, lies in having an irrational expectation that things will be unchanged or will provide the same experience that we had in the past, which both are impossibilities. Things and ourselves are in constant flux. If nothing else, we age, and time causes things to deteriorate. Also, if we are fortunate, we mature, and the same things that delighted our childish or worldly sensibilities lose their luster as we see them for what they are and how they were never supposed to be the idols of that we made them out to be. I remember when I returned home from my first semester away at college and was surprised at how small the kitchen of my home had seemed to have gotten. I guess my childlike expectations and perceptions of that room were challenged as, as I had some distance from it and now re-entered that space as a man. Although I had a lot of things to learn and to grow out of still, I wasn't a kid anymore, and even my perceptions of my home was changed as my childhood was over. But this shift didn't mean that all was lost and joy was no more. It didn't mean that I should regress into playing with childhood toys or to try to kneel down to regain a childlike perspective. It just meant that I was to find joy where I was now and to rejoice over the fact that I was blessed with growth and the ability to develop into maturity and new tastes. It matters how we perceive the world, and the way we see it is directly impacted by the things we put our attention to. As Christians, we're trying to be sanctified and to be more and more like Jesus. We have to realize that some of the things that we enjoyed in our pre-Christ existence are not good for us and no longer are appropriate for who we are now in Christ. Some of the things we enjoyed before before go against the word of God and the spirit of our new lives in Christ. And rather than persisting in our childish worldly ways, we should set our minds, eyes, and ears on things that are good. As Philippians 4:8 tells us, finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. So we shouldn't believe the lie that turning our attention to worldly things won't corrupt us. And that brings us to our current series on self-deception, where we have decided to investigate some of the ways we deceive ourselves by walking through step 2, deception versus truth, of the Steps to Freedom in Christ. To see what ways we have been deceived by the world and ourselves, and in what ways we have wrongly defended ourselves. So we present the 9th— or is it the 10th? It is the 10th way you can be deceived by the world. There's so many ways, which is number 10: believing that I can read, see, or listen to anything and not be corrupted. The scripture reference for this point is Proverbs 4:23-27, and the word of God says, guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Avoid all perverse talk. Stay away from corrupt speech. Look straight ahead and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet. Stay on the safe path. Don't get sidetracked. Keep your feet from following evil. And the second verse is Matthew 5:28, where Jesus said, but I say, I say, anyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Hey, I'll keep it real. As someone who didn't come to Christ until later in life, I enjoyed rock and roll, alternative rock, rap, hip-hop, the books of Stephen King, rated, rated R movies. Horror and science fiction and movies and TV shows, and that weren't shy about their use of profanity or nudity. But I would like to point out that I was living in the flesh. I was an addict for entertainment, substance, and sex. I was in a vicious cycle of trying to satisfy my desires virtually all the time. And if I am honest, The things I watched, read, and listened to did nothing to dissuade my fleshly lifestyle and fueled my desires and encouraged me to express my anger, my lust, my fear, and even my depression. The media I consumed also gave me no hope of any meaning and purpose to life other than to live it up and to do whatever I wanted to do. The media I consumed encouraged me to satisfy myself and myself alone. So after becoming a born-again disciple of Jesus Christ, my eyes were opened to not only the truth of the gospel. After I was saved, it was— it has become increasingly revealed to me how all the things that I used to put my attention on were harmful and antithetical to who I am in Christ. The music, TV shows, and movies I watched fed my lust. And led me into sin and the negative consequences and emotions that stem from sin. I am still learning about how the things of my pre-Christ existence have the tendency to corrupt me, and I am continually learning this lesson again and again. I will still watch the occasional horror film and occasionally listen to secular music, but for the most part, I have pulled the plug on secular entertainment, because I have grown increasingly sensitive to the fact that these things aren't good for my soul. After indulging in these periodic returns to my former interest, I am often dissatisfied either with the quality or the content of what I watched or listened to or read, and feel like I have to be cleansed and repent, leading me to invariably ask for the Lord's forgiveness. I have noticed the subtle way that secular media undermines the word of God causes disquieting emotions and can lead into temptation. So beware that while we are free to watch, read, or listen to anything, we are not free from the negative consequences of indulging in things that can corrupt us. As 1 Corinthians 10:23 tells us, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. So focus on these good, noble, and pure things, and seek to be edified morally or intellectually improved with the things that you listen to, watch, or read. God may have found you in the midst of consuming secular media, but it doesn't mean that he wants you to stay there. Instead, to walk in the— instead, walk in the Spirit with what you put before your mind, eyes, and ears, and seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness to know the peace and true freedom that comes from being more and more like Jesus. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Kruis. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on adultery, and it's the final point, um, and it's a long one. So we're— it's, it's basically story time from the word of God. And today's scripture references Um, from our, from our resources, Genesis 39:6-20, but I'm including verse 21, and this is from the New Living Translation. So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn't worry about a thing except what kind of food to eat. Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man. And Potiphar's wife soon began to look at him lustfully. Come and sleep with me, she demanded. But Joseph refused. Look, he told her, my master trusts me with everything in his household. No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God. She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible. One day, however, no one else was around when he went in to do his work. She came and grabbed him by his cloak, demanding, 'Come on, sleep with me.' Jesus— I'm sorry, Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house. When she saw that she was holding his cloak and he fled, she called out to her servants. Soon all the men came running. Look, she said, my husband has brought this Hebrew slave here to make fools of us. He came into my room to rape me, but I screamed. When he heard me scream, he ran outside and got away, but he left his cloak behind with me. She kept the cloak with her until her husband came home. Then she told him her story. "That Hebrew slave you brought into our house tried to come in and fool around with me," she said. "But when I screamed, he ran outside, leaving his cloak behind with me." Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife's story about how Joseph had treated her. So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king's prisoners were held, and there he remained. But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love, and the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. Today's verses all fall under that 19th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on adultery. And that 19th point is: When he was tempted by Potiphar's wife to commit adultery, Joseph refused to sin against God. Today is the last day on our series of adultery, um, uh, the 19th and final point, and it tells the story of faithful Joseph, a type of Jesus, um, as Bible scholars will tell you, um, who knew how wicked and evil adultery was. And that was before the Ten Commandments. And that it was not only a sin against Potiphar but against God himself. Joseph knew the Lord and knew that adultery was something that he should literally run from, and he did. And even though he was wrongfully accused of attempted rape and was imprisoned The Lord was with him and eventually delivered and exalted Joseph to the second highest position in all of Egypt, which allowed him to, to save his family from famine and forgive his brothers who had sold him into slavery in the first place. God is holy and calls his people to be— to a holy life. And even though we may suffer for choosing to be pure and separated from the world at times, The Lord is faithful to his people and will take what the enemy meant for evil and turn it for good. So flee sexual immorality and trust your life to God, who works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purposes. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from A.W. Pink's The Holy Spirit as we continue and conclude chapter 14 on the Spirit comforting, uh, with the final section which is entitled How the Spirit Comforts. So if you want to know how the Holy Spirit will comfort you or, or what A.W. Pink has to say about that, go to m.tforchrist.org and you'll see that resource at the end of today's blog post. As always, we encourage a life of purity and, you know, holiness by following the Lord and his will for our lives, by reading his word and applying it to our lives, to walking in the Spirit, to living according to the guidance of our Lord, and that which we find in Scripture, and from listening to a still, quiet voice that still He speaks and guides us, and that's something we, we've come to call the pathway of Christian discipleship, um, that, that is, is our sanctification and, and the will of God. So we encourage that because we weren't always like this. We weren't always a Christian. We made terrible decisions in our past and were very worldly and, and selfish. And we suffered greatly with negative emotions and negative consequences from the things I have done and the sins I did. But I found peace and joy in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit and the fellowship of the church. I realized that the Lord accepts us when we put our faith in Jesus Christ. Christ, and that he will lead us to be the people he created us to be, that forsake sin and do what is right as much as we can. And, um, we're not doing right things to be approved by God. God approves us when we put our faith in Jesus first and then sets us free. But although we are free, we are still free to choose to sin. And so we must renew our mind with the word of God and with a spirit of surrender to the Lord's purposes for our lives. So we encourage that because we did it, and we discovered— and we're not anything special— we discovered that the Lord is faithful to help us when we call out His name and follow Him. So I can't, you know, I know it's different, it's a different lifestyle from this world we live live in. But the Lord has something so great for us when we, when we decide to follow him. And my life is filled with continuous joy as I spend the day walking and talking with God. And so we encourage that because you can find your freedom in Christ. For those of you who don't know what Freedom in Christ is, it's more than a discipleship class, but we have a discipleship class, and they can tell you about this life of freedom. And so we encourage people to check it out. We have a free— the Freedom in Christ course, Victory Over the Darkness, and the Bondage Breaker, which are all based on the Word of God and Dr. Neil Anderson's work. And to take those steps to freedom in Christ that we're highlighting in this current series on self-deception, that will lead you into all truth and to resolve your personal and spiritual conflicts that you have. But it requires you to surrender. It requires you to be real, to be real in your confession and real in your commitment to follow the Lord. You know, you won't do it perfectly, but the more you follow the Lord, the more you'll be led into a life of the Spirit, which will culminate in the cultivation of the fruit of the Spirit of joy, peace, love, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, patience, and self-control. And that's the life that God has for us. That's the life Jesus talked about in the abundant life of living in the kingdom of God right here on earth as we don't— we abide in Christ. So we recommend that, and obviously we recommend the study of God's word. We shared lots of Bible today, so we encourage that because the wisdom of the Lord is contained in it and his will for our lives. Is contained in it. So we should read it, know it, and meditate on it continually to hear God's voice. And if we want to hear it out loud, we can, we can read it out loud. And we encourage Bible study through the podcast and our ministry here through our little show that we call Bible Study with the Cincatis, where Arthur and Susanna Cincati, my wife and I, come together to discuss different topics of trying to, to be obedient to God's Word and to know the truth that God reveals to us in His Word. So if you need a Bible study and don't have one locally, you can join ours by just listening in. We do one— we do the study once a week on Sundays, and we encourage— and prayerfully we'll be meeting again for another one. We encourage you to join us. And today was a little different. I sort of started early. I prepared some of the things I had. I knew I had a lot of scripture to do in that Genesis, so I wanted to make sure I had it in my blog form before I even sat down today. So we got a little extra time, although I gotta still get ready for work and run out the door. So Thank God it's Friday, and let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for all that you do for us. Thank you for how you have led— how you've led us into your truth and into the life eternal that is found in Jesus, that we get to live out every day here on earth. And we can't wait to see you, but until then, we're going to walk in spirit and truth and, uh, and encourage others to find that path for themselves. And to follow you and you only. Lord, we, we pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that they'd have a wonderful weekend and that you come alongside them and their prayer request and encourage them in their faith and their walk. And Lord, we ask for you to go before us today to, to answer our prayer in terms of what we prayed for for today. And please, Lord, and to, uh, go before us and show us the things you want us to see and to lead us into the things that you would have us do. Because the only thing we want to do is represent you and your kingdom on the earth and to encourage other people to find the life that you have for them in Christ. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.